i6 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



starve himself to death for their sake or the sake of their 

 mother. 



This, however, is the rule, not the exception, with all 

 wild creatures ; and though it is easy to account for the 

 persistence of such altruism by the " survival of the fittest," 

 that explanation does not touch the problem as to how the 

 fitness which was to survive first came about. 



Even if it did, the explanation would not emphasise any 

 line of cleavage between man and the beast as regards the 

 paternal instinct. 



For it is a mistake to suppose, as many do, that father- 

 hood is unknown amongst animals. 



Only the other day I saw a male sparrow-hawk shot 

 when rising from the body of a pheasant, the bones of which 

 were already denuded of the flesh. 



Beak and breast were gory with its prize, but the hawk's 

 crop was quite empty — and the poor soul was so thin and 

 light that wonder grew as to how he could have killed a 

 bird three times his size. 



The secret of his strength was not far to seek. In the 

 neighbouring wood a mate and a nestful of young hawklets 

 flourished on the hunter's hunger. 



The dog fox again supplies an instance all the more 

 striking, because the instinct of fatherhood requires in his 

 case a complete setting aside of previous experience. Wiliest 

 of all mortals, the marvellous power which he possesses of 

 foretelling dawn will, when he has none to consider but 

 himself, send him slinking home after a fruitless night, 

 content to sleep through his hunger rather than risk the 

 betrayal of light ; since the mere sight of him will, he 

 knows, put the whole neighbourhood on guard. 



